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31 Oct 2012

John Turturro

Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

The Tectonic Theater Project's Laramie Cycle, John Turturro in The Master Builder and the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Julius Caesar will be presented as part of the Winter/Spring season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The U.S. premiere of The Suit, based on the short story by Can Themba, will run Jan. 17-Feb. 2, 2013. Peter Brook will stage Harie-Hélène Estienne's stage adaptation.

Here's how it's billed: "Philemon worships his wife, Matilda. Despite the daily oppression of apartheid life in 1950s Johannesburg, he is a happy man. All of this changes when Philemon returns home to discover Matilda with another lover who narrowly escapes, leaving his suit behind on a hanger. Caught in a vortex of emotions ranging from jealousy to embarrassment to rage, Philemon sets forth a humiliating punishment for his wife: to go on with life as usual but treat the suit as her eternal honored guest and take it with her everywhere she goes as a constant reminder of her betrayal. Based on a short story by Can Themba, the suit becomes a permanent thorn in the couple's daily life as Matilda is forced to set an extra place at the table every night and introduce the suit to their neighbors and friends."

According to BAM, "In 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten to death, the victim of a hate crime that left the small town of Laramie, Wyoming—and many national and international observers—in shock. In the aftermath of Shepard's death, acclaimed playwright and director Moisés Kaufman (Gross Indecency, I Am My Own Wife) and members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie and conducted more than 200 interviews with its residents. Using these interview transcripts, court documents, and media reportage as source material, they created The Laramie Project.

"On October 12, 2009 (the 11th anniversary of Shepard's death) audiences in more than 130 cities in the United States and abroad attended the simultaneous premieres of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, which used many of the same techniques to document changes in the community since the hate crime; the new play was also in part a rebuttal to a false emerging narrative that characterized the murder as a drug deal gone wrong."

Newly appointed artistic director Gregory Doran will stage the RSC production of Julius Caesar April 10-28, 2013. It will feature music by Akintayo Akinbode and choreography by Diane Alison-Mitchell.

"Set in present day Africa and featuring an all-black cast, this visionary production echoes the recent regime struggles on that continent," BAM reveals.

Henrik Ibsen's The Master Builder, helmed by Andrei Belgrader, will run May 12-June 9, 2013. Turturro (Endgame at BAM) will star in the title role.

According to BAM, "The Master Builder is the story of Halvard Solness, a middle-aged architect who comes to believe he has willed his professional accomplishments into reality, as though imbued with a God-given power. This psychologically complex character is plagued by ambition, doubt, and guilt; his own marriage is frozen in the sorrow of his children's deaths that resulted from a fire that ultimately led him to profit. Solness succumbs to the adoration of a young woman named Hilde who visits him years after he constructed her town's church. Seeing Solness as a heroic figure from her childhood, Hilde maintains an obsession that plays into the architect's desire and egoism—ultimately leading to the unexpected ending. The play explores, among other themes, the complex forces animating and inspiring an artist as he reconciles the callings of life and creativity."